Instep-holder



(No Model.)

G. MQKAY & H. P. FAIRFIELD.

Inste-p Holder.

No. 234,488. Patented Nov. 16', 1880.

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UNTTED STATES PATENT FJFllGEQ GORDON MOKAY, OF CAMBRIDGE, AND HADLEY P. FAIRFIELD, OF WEST MEDFOBD, MASSACHUSETTS.

lNSTEP-HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 234,488, dated November 16, 1880.

Application filed October 14, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GORDON MO'KAY, of Cambridge, and HADLEY P. FAIRFIELD, of West Medford, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, haveinvented an Improvement in Instep-Holders, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanyin g drawings, is a specification.

Our invention relates to an instep-fastening to be used to fasten together the open instep portion of the uppers of shoes while being lasted.

In the manufacture of that class of shoes having an open front to be fastened over the instep of the foot by lacings it is customary, in preparing the upper for lasting, to fasten together the edges of the said open portion by passing a string or lacing through a pair of eyelet or lacing holes, one on each edge of the shoe, and tying the ends of the said string together. This fastening operation consumes considerable time and involves a consumption of material, as the strings are usually out apart after the shoe has been finished, (lasted,)

- and after this are of no use for any purpose.

Our invention is embodied in a fastening that can be readily applied to the shoe and quickly fastened without tying a knot, and when the shoe is lasted can be removed without injury, so that it is ready to be used over again repeatedly, this operation of removal requiring no more time than is needed to cut and remove the ordinary tied fastenings,

Our improved instep-fastening consists of a short piece of durable flexible material, as a thong of rawhide or leather provided at one end with a stiffening device, (shown as a metal tip,) to enable it to be quickly inserted in the eyelets or lacing-holes, and at its other end with a stop, (shown as an enlargementor head,) to prevent it from being drawn wholly through the said holes when inserted therein. The said enlargement is adapted to receive the other end of the fastening after being passed through the lacing-holes, the said end being fastened to and disengaged from the said enlargement by a quick simple movement of the operator. I

In the plan of operation hitherto in use it is not economical to provide the fasteningpared with the aggregate amount of labor saved by its continued use.

In that embodiment of our invention which we prefer the stop or enlargement is provided with a catch to engage a corresponding portion of the metal tip properly shaped for this purpose; but it is sufficient to form the stopping enlargement as a button and to wind the end of the thong, which will in this instance be made long enough for this purpose, around the said button, where it will be held secure by friction between the said button and the upper as soon as any strain is brought upon it in the process of lasting the shoe.

Figure l is a side view of one of our improved instep-holders, an end view of the stop or enlargement being shown at the right; Fig. 2, a view thereof in operative position, fastening together the instep portion of a shoe; Fig. 3, a modified form in position in a shoeupper, and Fig. 4 a side view of another modified form.

The instep-fastener consists of a flexible cord or thong, a, preferably of rawhide, provided at one end with a stiffening-tip, b, to enable it to be quickly inserted in the lacingholes of the upper m of a shoe, and at its other end with a stop or enlargement, 0, of a size too great to pass through the said holes, so that when the tip I) has been inserted in the holes the thong a may be drawn quickly through, and the two sides of the upper in be drawn together thereby, after which the end which has been drawn through the lacing-holes is to be fastened to the end provided with the stop 0. This may be conveniently done by means of the catch, Figs. 1 and 2, (shown as a projection, 0, provided with a slot, 3, adapted 5 to engage the stiffening-point b, provided with an annular groove, 4, to fit the slot 3 in the said projection e.)

If desired, the end provided with the tip I) may be fastened by winding the flexible por- I00 tion thereof, adjacent to the tip, around just beneath the stop at the other end, (see Fig. 3,) formed in this instance as a button, 0, the said tipped end being retained in place by the friction developed between it and the surface of the button a and the portion of the upper on adjacent thereto, it holding the more tightly the greater the strain brought upon it.

In the form illustrated in Fig. 4 the stop or button 0 is provided with an annular groove, 5, having inclined sides, so that when the flexible portion adjacent to the tipped end of the thong is drawn around the but-ton it wedges into the said inclined groove, it being depressed more deeply into the said groove and held more tightly as the strain upon it is increased.

We claim 1. As an improved article of manufacture, an instep-fastening for holding together the insteps of shoes while being lasted, it consist- In testimony whereof we have signed our 5 names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GORDON MCKAY. HADLEY P. FAIRFIELD. VVi-tnesses G. W. GREGORY, ARTHUR REYNOLDS. 

